Acting My Age

Remember when a congregation's governing body used to be called the Council of Elders? I've recently been elected to my church council, and sure enough, looking around the table at my first meeting last week, almost everyone present had gray or white hair.  I can't tell you how many people have made remarks like "it's nice to have a young person on the council."  Granted, I am the youngest person on the council - but only by a few years.

I'm the secretary, so during the meeting, I typed the minutes on my laptop.  Then to further cement my reputation as the young, tech-savvy council member, I connected to the wireless network and helped Pastor Pam give a tour of the private sections of the web site.  Ooh, ahh.

But it's all relative.  A few days later, I revealed exactly how clueless I am, in a conversation with 20-somethings.  It went something like this:

"Governor Walker got royally pwnd."
"Huh? What is powned?"
"P-W-N-D.  It's l33t, for owned."
"Leet?"
"You know, l33t speak."

Thanks to their patient explanations, and the urban dictionary, I figured out this bit of gamer slang that has gone mainstream - at least in youth/geek culture.  I'd better get used to feeling out of touch, because it won't be long before my boys will be speaking a different language.